Curtis Utz, Assault from the Sea, The Amphibious Landing, Naval ...

LCVPs on their way to the
shore and raked Green Beach
with rockets and 40mm fire.
That done, signalmen on the
control vessel lowered flags
signaling the assault. The
coxswains in the first wave
put their controls at full
throttle and the landing
craft roared across the line
of departure.
To cover the final run into
the beach, Corsairs from
VMF-214 and VMF-323
screamed over the LCVPs
and strafed the shoreline.
Two destroyers using proximity-fuzed
ammunition
scoured the forward slope of
Observatory Hill and the
waterfront with deadly air
bursts of shrapnel.
At 0633, G and H Companies
of Colonel Taplett’s 3rd
Battalion, 5th Marines,
stormed ashore. When three
men stepped off one LCVP,
they sank in water well over
their heads. Not wanting a
repeat of the tragic experience
at Tarawa in World War II
when many Marines drowned
because they had to move
long distances through neckhigh
water, the boat crews
moved their vessels closer to
the shore. Succeeding waves
brought in the rest of Taplett’s
Marines and ten M-26
Pershing tanks, including
one equipped with a flamethrower
and two more with
bulldozer blades.
The Marines advanced
rapidly across the island.
Company H seized and fortified
the Wolmi Do end of the
causeway to Inchon, while
engineers sprinted onto the
roadway to lay an antitank
minefield. Company G
assaulted Radio Hill and by
0655 the stars and stripes
flew over that position.
Meanwhile, Taplett landed
with his I Company, which
moved into areas supposedly
secured by the assault units.
North Korean troops, hidden
in caves on the east side of
the island, fired on several I
Company squads. When,
despite the pleas of a Marine
interpreter, the NKPA soldiers
refused to surrender, a
tankdozer entombed them
in their positions.
By 0800, Taplett reported
With the first waves safely ashore on
Wolmi Do, General MacArthur and
several of his key officers share a
light moment on the bridge of Mount
McKinley (AGC 7). Standing behind
MacArthur are (left to right) Rear Admiral
Doyle, Brigadier General Edwin
K. Wright and Major General Edward
Almond, Commander of the X Corps.
11 1-SC-348448 courtesy NHC
Wolmi Do secured. His leathernecks
dug in to fend off any
counterattacks and herded
the few prisoners of war
(POWs) into a dry swimming
pool. Some of the NKPA soldiers
fought to the last; others,
especially local Koreans recently
“recruited” by the
Communists, readily surrendered.
Fanatical enemy
troops, however, soon opened
up from the nearby islet of
Sowolmi Do with light antiaircraft
weapons. A reinforced
rifle squad and several tanks
rapidly moved against them.
Supported by Marine Corsairs,
the ground force quickly
silenced the enemy guns.
With the outer harbor secured,
at the cost of only 17
wounded, the first phase was
now over. General MacArthur
asked Doyle to send the following
message to Task
Force 90: “The Navy and
Marines have never shone
more brightly than this
morning.” With a large smile,
the old soldier then turned to
the Army, Navy and Marine
officers gathered on Doyle’s
flagship and said, “That’s it.
Let’s get a cup of coffee.” As
he drank his cup of thick
Navy java, MacArthur
penned a message to General
Bradley and the other Joint
Chiefs: “First phase landing
successful with losses slight.
All goes well and on schedule.”
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